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Louisiana State will try to use its experience in the NCAA women'stournament to its advantage against Arizona State when the teams meet in afirst-round matchup.

The Lady Tigers are making their third straight appearance in thetournament, and feature three players - DeTrina White, April Brown andleading-scorer Marie Ferdinand - that have made all three trips.

Ferdinand is confident the trio's postseason experience can translate into avictory.

'To have experience playing (in the NCAA tournament), having been there, isdefinitely an edge for us,' Ferdinand said. 'It's tougher than having to playon the road, and we're prepared for it.'

LSU has played more NCAA games (seven) the last two seasons than ArizonaState (five) has in the history of its program.

In addition, the Sun Devils are making their first appearance since 1992.However Arizona State is hoping its first Pac-10 title can compensate for itsinexperience.

This year's conference title (shared with Washington and Stanford) wasearned with a school-best 12-6 conference mark, surpassing the 11-7 mark of the1991-92 team which finished in fifth place.

Friday's game also marks the first meeting between the two schools.

'We aren't very familiar with Arizona State,' LSU coach Sue Gunter said.'But that is what the NCAA tournament is all about. We get the chance to goout and prove to people across the nation that this LSU squad is a goodbasketball team.'